Happy B Day

Today is “B Day” week in North America. The USA has its birthday on July 4^th and Canada has its on July 1^st. America is 239 this year. Some people were polled and they thought the good old USA was 2015 years old. Canada is 148 this year. England is just very old as is Germany and Cairo Egypt. My thought is when we have a birthday, we feel older and more mature (hopefully). Is that the way it works for countries too?

I was watching a show from America and they had racial tensions. For a Canadian that seems slightly weird. We just don’t have that kind of history here. Yes we have native problems and Quebec problems, but they pale in comparison to America. I was wondering where we have gone in a couple of hundred years? Do we have a more mature nation?

I watch riots over racial issues in America. There are racial problems in France too. There are many racial problems in the Middle East but we just don’t see it daily. Many small cultures like the Kurds and Palestinians are still having a hard time existing within another country. One cop on a show said to a Black man “I’m sorry for your 300 years of depression.” That seems harsh considering the Black man didn’t ask for any of this mess. A bumper sticker said “If I’d known how this would turn out I’d have picked my own dam cotton.” After all these years can’t we just get along?

I must admit that racial issues seem low in Canada. I was not a big fan of Multiculturalism (big word), but it seems to be working in this country. I was in a restaurant yesterday and was served by an Italian. A Black couple came in and was convinced to wait. We hurried up so they could have our table.  Didn’t really occur to me that we had racial or skin color differences (were Canadian). Isn’t it about time that we celebrate what we have in common more than subtle differences?

What does God have to say about race? Well first off God loves traditions. Throughout the Bible we are to celebrate certain milestones like the Passover. God split up the nations and created races in Genesis 11 at the Tower of Babel. Foreigners were allowed to be welcomed into the Jewish culture. God used an Ethiopian eunuch to spread the word in Africa. Jesus was not white (did you know that). Race has never been an issue. Culture against God was an issue. Traditions in Gods world have no boundaries.

For thousands of years God has worked with and through people of all types. We have a European Pope and an American preacher like Billy Graham. Mother Teresa comes from Macedonia and Bishop Tutu comes from South Africa. All over the world are people from ancient lands that want peace. They come in the name of Jesus spreading love rather than hatred. I find it weird that the name Jesus provokes hatred in the Americas.

The Birthdays for the free world have come and gone for this year. Who are the people of peace in those countries? Is there Black people fighting for calm? Who are the white people that want understanding and resolution? Canada just ignores its problems because they seem so small. We share wealth across this land in the name of fairness and peace. Is it fair and does it promote peace? America seems like a festering time bomb. Who will provide a way to peace in the land of the Star Spangled Banner?

We are older now as countries. When will maturity come? Natives want resolution and so do the Gay and Lesbian population. Maybe it’s time to celebrate what we do share more than what we do not. I feel that the more we try to make another person tolerant the more hatred we inflict on each other. People of all colors and cultures are different. For heaven’s sake men and women are different. There are those trying to unite gay and straight alliances. I believe it creates a bigger wedge because people want to change who we are and what they believe.

A Muslim is a Muslim. A Christian is a Christian. Are you African, gay, transgender or something we haven’t thought of yet? Does it really matter in the essence of a birthday? We invite friends to a birthday. They are different people coming together to honor and celebrate someone else. Isn’t it time we call ourselves Canadians and Americans first? I think maturity reaches out beyond social name tags. It reaches out beyond race and culture. After all these years aren’t it time to treat people exactly as God has for thousands of years?

Faith comes alive